Red Claw, voiced by Pete Sepenuk, is the main antagonist in the TV series. He is a Tyrannosaurus,[1] which means he is a "Sharptooth." He is identifiable by the long red scar extending from his left eye down to the side of his body and arm to his claw.

He has two dromaeosaur (disputably Velociraptor) minions named Screech and Thud, whose species are nicknamed "Fast Biters." They are the secondary antagonists of the show. According to Chomper and Ruby, Red Claw is the biggest and meanest Sharptooth of all time.

Contents

Appearances

The Television series

Red Claw and his two Fast Biter minions, Screech and Thud, have currently only appeared in the TV series. Red Claw is stated to have been antagonizing the dinosaurs in the Mysterious Beyond before the television show.

He, Screech, and Thud appear together in the following episodes (with two exceptions):

Reception

From the time of his initial series debut, Red Claw has been poorly received, many fans doubting the authenticity of the characters' claims of the T. rex being the being "the most ferocious Sharptooth ever". In comparison to other Sharpteeth that have appeared within the franchise, fans consider Red Claw to be somewhat of a joke and a lackluster antagonist by the standards of the sharpteeth in the series. Some factors that contribute to Red Claw being looked down upon by a number of fans include his lack of abnormal abilities seen in some sharpteeth in earlier movies, his lack of backstory or motive, and lack of appearances in most episodes. Some fans have accused of Red Claw just being there to put in the role of the villain. The Meanest Sharptooth is also already known as the "biggest, meanest, most ferocious sharptooth ever."

Though reception was mostly negative, his intimidating appearance was a bit more well received, due to him having a massive scar.[Citation Needed]

Analysis

According to TV Tropes, Red Claw will never live up to his status of being the "Biggest and Meanest Sharptooth" in the Mysterious Beyond.[2]

Cultural Influence

Merchandise

Red Claw has very little merchandise, though he does appear in the rare (and could now be considered "lost") board game "Escape From Red Claw". On the cover of said board game, he has a different appearance; he has circular plates on his back, vaguely similar to those of the Plated Sharptooth. His scar cannot be seen, as he is facing from the opposite side. It is obvious that he was drawn different for this board game, but he does appear properly as one of the sculpted figures.

Identity

Many fans believe that Red Claw could be a relative of Sharptooth, the villain of the first film. Some even say he may be the original sharptooth himself, or one of the many Tyrannosaurus that were defeated by Littlefoot and his friends throughout the film series, or even the original sharptooth's brother. His injured claw, which gives him his name, supports this theory, as many of the T. rex defeated by the Gang fell off a cliff, making such an injury very likely assuming survival.

There is some evidence supporting this claim, as both Red Claw and the original sharptooth both have injured eyes and are especially feared for their kind. And as mentioned above, if he really is the original Sharptooth, Red Claw may have gotten his namesake feature when Littlefoot and his friends pushed a boulder on him in the first movie.

Red Claw and his minions are also noted for separating Chomper and Ruby from their families, similarly to how the original Sharptooth orphaned Littlefoot. Red Claw's right eye may be a result of the thorn striking it (as thorns can be poisonous), and if he also was the Meanest Sharptooth, his scar may have been from falling off a cliff in Secret of the Saurus Rock.

This is unlikely however, because the original Sharptooth sank into the deep end of the pond that Littlefoot and his friends pushed him into during the first film. Because he was most likely unconscious, he could not have swam to the surface; also in The Land Before Time Universe, sharpteeth aren't considered to be good swimmers, let alone the tyrannosaurids. There is also the issue between both characters having starkly different coloration (in both body coating and eyes). Nothing is known about the original Sharptooth's history other than during the events of the film and in the book, and has no evidence to assume he had any relatives, but if Sharptooth did have any siblings, they would be of the color scheme as him (this being proven by the conclusion of Cera, Ducky and Petrie all sharing color schemes with their siblings).

It is much more likely, though, that Red Claw might instead be the Sharptooth from The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze, who fell over a cliff after being hit by a log thrown by Mr. Thicknose. It might have survived, but may have been injured from one of the log's sharp branch stumps during the fall. It might mean that he is now looking for revenge. This Sharptooth is also of more comparable coloring to Red Claw. The coloring is not exactly the same in the winter, but it may be the same outside the winter, as other characters in the movie have different colors in the winter than the other seasons. However, this would mean that the sharptooth from the opening narration would have to be a different individual, as it appears in a lush area with no snow and has the same coloring as the sharptooth later in the film.

Trivia

In the TV series, Chomper states that Red Claw is the biggest Sharptooth of all. Tyrannosaurus rex was once believed to be the biggest meat-eating dinosaur, but this was proven wrong when Giganotosaurus was discovered, and new estimates of the size of Spinosaurus. Even still, there are other carnivorous dinosaurs larger than T. rex, including Carcharodontosaurus, Mapusaurus and Saurophaganax.

A Giganotosaurus has already appeared in one of the films, and it happened to be one that Chomper was featured in. It was the Plated Sharptooth, and it was slightly larger than Chomper's parents.

Chomper also says that Red Claw can't see the characters if they're still. Though not applied to previous T. rex throughout the series, including Chomper himself, this reflects the Jurassic Park-born misconception that T. rex's vision based on movement.

Cera does say "Yeah, but he can still smell us!", however, in The Cave of Many Voices.

In The Hidden Canyon, the protagonists stand still, though he still sees them, debunking this claim.

Red Claw's scar is similar to that of two characters of fiction.

In the 90s Land of the Lost TV series, there is a Tyrannosaurus who had a scar going across his right eye. earning him the name "Scarface". The only difference between the two is that Red Claw is able to see through both eyes.

Red Claw's scar going across his left eye is similar to that of Disney's The Lion King main villain, Scar, brother of Mufasa and uncle of Simba.

Red Claw is one of only two Sharpteeth in the franchise to interrupt a song, the song in this case Ruby's rendition of 'Feel So Happy' from Return to Hanging Rock. The other Sharptooth to interrupt a song in the series is Chomper in the second film, who interrupted 'You're One of Us Now' by biting Cera in the tail.

Red Claw, though he doesn't normally appear that formidable on screen, must be quite dangerous if he can be such a threat that Chomper's parents working together couldn't stop him but instead had to send Chomper with Ruby instead. They were, after all, able to take on a theropod much bigger than them who threatened their son.